Historic Big Spring Mill in Elliston is under new ownership and once again selling the mill’s much-sought-after seasoned flour. Soon it will sell other flours and cornmeal.
Customers lined up to buy bags of the flour that has been a longtime favorite for breading and making gravy on Monday. The mill is open from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“We’re trying to make all the products exactly the same as in 2022 when the mill closed,” explained General Manager James Elkins. “We purchased the original recipes and are buying from the same grain elevators and suppliers. We’re just waiting for bags to come in for other flour and cornmeal.”
Head Miller Benny Hollins, who was the head miller at the mill when shut down and has 30 years of experience, is back, along with seven other employees. Four of those were employed in 2022, Elkins said.
Hollins reconditioned the mill and got it ready to run.
“Without Benny we wouldn’t be here,” added Elkins, who worked for Big Spring for 40 years before it closed. “He lives a quarter of a mile from mill and can see it from his house when leaves go down.”
Elkins said two brothers who previously worked at the mill have returned to hand-tie with string each bag of flour.
Big Spring Mill was started in 1850 as a water-powered grist mill that sole livestock feed. Former owner Bob Long said the mill was built by Joseph Pepper. Long’s great-grandfather, Fleetwood Long, purchased the mill in 1935. He was later joined by son Woodrow, before his sons, Bill and David Long, took over.
Bob Long said in 2022 they were closing the mill because he was ready to retire and spend more time with family.
Bob Long has been to the mill several times since October, Elkins said, “and has been very helpful.”
Larry Shelor and David Hagan, who grew up in Elliston, purchased Big Spring Mill in March 2025 when it went up for auction.
“David really wanted to get the mill back on line,” said Elkins, who lives in Christiansburg. He graduated from Auburn High School in 1990 and Radford University in 1996.
Elkins said people had been calling and stopping by since October. “It’s really overwhelming that there’s so much support for a local business, with a lot of local and regional support.”
For now, all sales are at the mill, and seasoned flour will be available online soon, Elkins said. “In about two weeks we will start supplying smaller stores, and later, Food Lion and Kroger, he added.
Seasoned flour sells for $5.79 for two pounds. “We have 7,000 bags ready to sell,” Elkins said.
